Gulf carriers prepare for job losses

Airlines in Africa and the Middle East continue to feel the pain with both Air Arabia and Qatar Airways announcing job losses to their staff this week.
Air Arabia will immediately be losing two captains, eight first officers and 33 cabin crew plus an undefined number of staff from engineering and administration.
The total number is likely to exceed 50.
In a letter to affected staff the low-cost carrier said it “regretted” the terminations which take effect on June 2nd.
Meanwhile, Qatar Airways chief, Akbar Al Baker has written a letter to all staff warning them that jobs will go across the airline.
In the letter he said that despite all the efforts and hopes for a quick rebound “we are facing adversity on an unprecedented scale.” Al Baker praised staff efforts during the repatriation programme but said “Now we have to face a new reality where borders are closed, rendering many of our destinations closed and aircraft grounded as a result with no foreseeable outlook for immediate positive change.”
Details of a redundancy programme will be announced in the next few weeks.